- Safe havens Japanese yen, Swiss franc outperform
- Dollar dips as stocks continue rally
(Updates prices)
The Japanese yen jumped on Friday as investors sought protection against volatile stock moves, while the greenback dipped as stocks ended a dramatic week capped by large price swings.
The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX tested its 20-month low early in the week and was at the brink of bear market territory before the three main indexes roared back with their biggest daily surge in nearly a decade on Wednesday and a late rally on Thursday.
The yen gained despite soft domestic data and a decline in benchmark Japanese bond yields, which fell back into negative territory for the first time in more than a year.
"That suggests that there's still demand for some insurance against extended volatility over the holiday period that's keeping the yen better supported," said Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto.
The Japanese currency was last up 0.56 percent against the greenback at 110.37 yen. Another safe-haven currency, the Swiss franc CHF= , gained 0.26 percent at 0.9849.
"Markets are a bit more cautious on risk appetite, with the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc gaining," said Lee Hardman, an FX strategist at MUFG in London.
The dollar index, a gauge of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.09 percent to 96.396 .DXY .
The U.S. currency has been hurt in recent weeks by rising expectations that the Federal Reserve will pause its tightening cycle sooner than expected, or potentially harm the U.S. economy with further interest rate increases.
A partial shutdown of the U.S. federal government, trade tensions between the United States and China and complications relating to Britain's exit from the European Union are also keeping investors cautious.
"There's still a lot of potential risk and uncertainty out there," said Osborne.
Both chambers of the U.S. Congress convened for only a few minutes late on Thursday, but took no steps to end the partial federal government shutdown before adjourning until next week.
======================================================== Currency bid prices at 1:48PM (1848 GMT)Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct High Bid Low Bid Previous Change Session Euro/Dollar EUR= $1.1440 $1.1429 +0.10% -4.63% +1.1476 +1.1424 Dollar/Yen JPY= 110.3700 110.9900 -0.56% -2.04% +111.0400 +110.2300 Euro/Yen EURJPY= 126.34 126.89 -0.43% -6.54% +127.0300 +126.2800 Dollar/Swiss CHF= 0.9849 0.9875 -0.26% +1.09% +0.9886 +0.9791 Sterling/Dollar GBP= 1.2689 1.2642 +0.37% -6.09% +1.2710 +1.2635 Dollar/Canadian CAD= 1.3644 1.3616 +0.21% +8.48% +1.3659 +1.3592 Australian/Doll AUD= 0.7039 0.7033 +0.09% -9.77% +0.7069 +0.7028 arEuro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.1268 1.1289 -0.19% -3.60% +1.1302 +1.1215 Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.9013 0.9039 -0.29% +1.46% +0.9061 +0.9004 NZ NZD= 0.6699 0.6702 -0.04% -5.46% +0.6720 +0.6693 Dollar/DollarDollar/Norway NOK= 8.7253 8.7680 -0.49% +6.32% +8.7716 +8.6826 Euro/Norway EURNOK= 9.9831 10.0245 -0.41% +1.37% +10.0440 +9.9505 Dollar/Sweden SEK= 8.9662 9.0069 -0.40% +9.32% +9.0144 +8.9389 Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 10.2580 10.2996 -0.40% +4.26% +10.3120 +10.2410 (Additional reportung by Saikat Chatterjee in London; Editingby Richard Chang) (([email protected]; +1 646 223 6274; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))
